The New Riders
by Dapplepath
Summary: A Dragon hatches for a girl named Ann and she must learn to bear the weight of this new responsibility a fight to stay true to herself in a world that wants to make her into the person who she has vowed to never be. Story should be better than the summary. Read and review! Disclaimer: I do not own Inheritance Cycle. I am just not as awesome as Christopher Paolini, I guess.
1. Chapter 1

The girl slipped through the trees, peeking her head out from behind the trunk of a large oak tree, her long curly red hair falling into her sky-blue eyes. She brushed the hair out of her eyes and carefully stepped out from behind the tree and into an open field. She glanced back at the woods once more and smiled. Then she set off down the grassy slope covered in bright red poppies, heading down to the small house huddled at the bottom of the hill, smoke curling serenely from the chimney. The girl went to the door of the house and opened it as quietly as possible, then she went inside and was relieved to find that the kitchen was empty. The kitchen had a sturdy looking wooden table with a vase of poppies on it and was surrounded by five chairs. There was also a stove and a few shelves in one corner of the room as well as a fireplace that held a handful of dying coals.

The girl headed towards the table, there was something wrapped up in a napkin and a little note. She unwrapped the package and found that it contained bread and cheese; she eagerly bit into the bread and then picked up the note and read it.

Ann,

Mom and I went to town to pick up some fabric to make new dresses for the festival. Nick is off somewhere with Susie and Dad is having a meeting with the town elders about something or other. I told all of them that you were off in the woods looking for silver-bell flowers. Will be back sometime in the evening. Try to get something useful done, you can pick between laundry or scrubbing the floor.

Love, Sapphire

PS: Don't expect me to cover for you next time.

Ann sighed, "Really, Saph, you couldn't come up with something better than looking for flowers?" She grumbled and crumpled up the note in her hand. She took the cheese and finished it off before turning and heding out the door to get the bucket, fill it with water a little bit of soap to begin scrubbing the floor. It may have been a terrible job, but at least you could get away with only doing an okay job of it, which was a luxury you were not allowed when washing clothes.

So, after filling the bucket and adding a sparing amount of soap, she began scrubbing the old wooden floor with a bristle brush. Bored out of her mind, she began to hum a tune, soon the scrubbing was going to the beat, then she began to add lyrics,

"Here I am

scrubbing floors

when all I want to do

is fly so high

soaring and swooping

in the night sky

never again drooping so low

that I could even begin

to scrub so slow.

I wish-"

She cut off her song abruptly when she heard something bang on the door. She sprang to her feet and rushed to the door, narrowly avoiding spilling her bucket of water. She pulled open the door and was confronted with the sight of a man, his long brown hair fell down in a matted tangle, his dirty face was sunken and pale, he clutched at a large, wet, red spot on his chest. The blood ran down his hand and dripped onto the floor, in the other hand he held a large gleaming stone, it was black and white with veins of pure gold. Ann screamed as the man released his grip on his wound, grabbed her shoulder with his dripping red fingers and pulled her closer, "Hide it." He gasped and thrust the stone into her hands, his eyes wild with terror and pain. With a ragged noise, he staggered backwards and fell over, his body twitching spasmodically.

Grasping the large slightly bloody stone in both hands, Ann stared with wide horrified eyes as the man ceased twitching and went limp.

Dimly, Ann could hear shouting, she jerked her head upwards and saw a group of men coming out of the woods, they ran down towards the house, trampling the poppies as they went. Ann's brain kicked into gear, still holding the stone, she ran into a different room, her brother's room, which had a back door, and threw it open. She sprinted towards the wood on the other side of the house, not slowing to look over her shoulder and see whether they were following her or not.

She made it to the woods and kept running, the undergrowth tearing at the hem of her dress, thin branches slapping against her face like whips, bringing tears to her eyes,

When she felt that she simply couldn't go on any longer, she dropped to her knees, sucking in great breaths of air and trying to still her trembling limbs. Ann dropped the stone in front of her and ran her eyes over its black, white, and gold pattern. Ann knew what it was, and it was a dragon egg.

_**Please review and tell me if you think that I should continue this story or not!**_


	2. Chapter 2

Ann shuddered as she wiped the dark red smears of blood off of the egg's shiny surface. She decided to head to the town, there she would be able to find her family and sort this whole mess out. A worried frown crossed her face as she looked around; trying to remember what direction the town lay in. Then her face cleared as she remembered that the town should lie to the north. She glanced up at the sky, searching for the position of the sun through the thick, bright green leave, the position of the sun suggested that it was just after midday. Ann thought that she could probably make it to the town in about an hour and forty-five minutes, hopefully plenty of time to catch her family before they headed for home.

Ann pulled herself painfully to her feet picking up the dragon egg and headed in the direction of the town. She was still so confused about what had happened and images of that man twitching as he pulled in his last breath haunted her vision. Ann sent a worried glance over her shoulder when she heard a twig snap, thinking that it could be those men from her house tracking her. Ann shook her head, thinking that there was no use worrying about it, and that constantly looking over her shoulder would only slow her down.

As she walked, she absently traced her fingers over the golden veins that ran across the egg's surface and wondering about the creature inside of it.

The trees around her went gradually went from the thick-trunked oak trees to tall ever greens and dense, tangled undergrowth that often snagged her dress and pricked her skin. Sucking on a painfully bleeding finger, Ann looked around with a concerned expression in her eyes. "We should be there by now…" She muttered, drumming her fingers nervously on the egg.

"What if I got turned around somewhere," She said anxiously, all too aware of how easily it could have happened. The shadows were lengthening and, try though she might, Ann couldn't think of anything to do other than to keep moving.

This time, determined to go straight, Ann went through the undergrowth and bushes instead of around them, gritting her teeth when the sharp thorns sliced through her skin.

After about two hours of this, Ann was pushing her way painfully through some thicker underbrush, she swiped her hand across her dripping forehead, and her body ached for a rest. As she stepped out of the weeds, which were covered in yellow flowers, she let out a sharp grunt of pain as her foot slipped down into a muddy hole, there was a splintering crack! Ann's vision went dark around the edges as she crumpled to the ground, then, suddenly, the pain hit, and the world faded away, the last thing to go was her hearing, and she heard a surprised shout. "Gerard! Get over here! I…" Then Ann's hearing faded as well, releasing her into the velvety darkness of unconsciousness.

A red glow filtered through Ann's closed eyelids, she groaned and her eyes fluttered open, she quickly closed them as the bright light of a fire blinded her. She heard rustling, then she felt someone lay a hand against her forehead, "No fever…" said a man's voice. "Here, have something to drink." They said, and Ann felt the rim of a cap being pressed against her lips, the cool water moistened her parched lips and she opened her eyes. A man who looked to be in his early twenties was leaning over her, the one who had given her the drink of water. He had short brown hair and dark brown eyes, his large, bushy eyebrows were furrowed in concern. "Can you sit up?" He asked her, his voice gentle. Ann nodded and, with some help, managed to get into a sitting position.

"Could I have some more water?" Ann asked him, her voice little more than a croak.

"Of course you may." He said, handing her the water.

Another voice spoke, "What is your name?" Ann looked up at the speaker, seated beside the fire. This time it was a woman, her blond hair cropped short, with small eyes and a slightly upturned nose on her thin face.

"Ann Brooks." Replied Ann, "But, who are you, and… what happened? Why am I here?"

"I am Gerard Williams and this is Jocelyn Ratcliff," said the man, taking a seat beside Jocelyn, "We found you in the woods, not far from here, you were unconscious and your ankle is broken, as to where you are, you are in Valvale woods."

Ann frowned and looked down at the ankle that she had broken, she wriggled the foot and it felt fine. The woman, Jocelyn, noticed her confusion, "Magic." She said, "Gerard is a magician, that's how we healed your ankle." Gerrard sent a glittery little firework into the air with a mumbled word, smiling at Ann.

Ann sat bolt upright and let out a horrified gasp.

"Calm down!" said Gerard, "I won't do any more magic if it makes you uncomfortable."

"What?" said Ann, "No! I am not afraid of your magic! Where is the d- Um…The stone!" She said frantically casting around for the dragon egg. Jocelyn's eye glinted in amusement.

"You mean the dragon egg?" she said, her voice taking on a lilting tone. Ann froze.

"Where is it?" Ann asked, choking back fear.

Garrard glared at Jocelyn and said, "Be nice." Then he turned and rummaged in a bag beside him, carefully pulling out the egg and holding it out to Ann, who snatched it away from him. Then Gerrard said, "No need to be worried. We realize the value that a dragon egg holds and we didn't think it would be a good idea to leave it out in the open like that."

"I did wonder how you could have come across something like that though," Said Jocelyn, leaning forward, her small eyes narrowing.

"Not really important." Was all Ann responded, eyes darting from Garrard to Jocelyn nervously. "Could you help me get to a town, someplace where I could contact the Riders, or… something?"

Jocelyn opened her mouth to say something, but Gerrard interrupted her, saying, "Of course we can." Jocelyn darted a small glare at him. And scooted closer, whispering something into his ear, sending a meaningful glance in Ann's direction. Gerrard brushed a stray piece of hair out of Jocelyn's face and tucked it behind her ear and whispered something back, Jocelyn shook her head and leaned away and gave Gerrard a long-suffering look. Then she said, "I don't know why I am still following you around.

"I think you know why," said Gerrard with a smile. Jocelyn snorted and got to her feet.

"Ready to go when you are." Said Jocelyn, and she started gathering up items from around the fire and shoving them into a bag.

"Will you be able to walk okay?" Gerrard asked Ann, , who nodded and got to her feet, still holding onto the dragon egg.

"We should get to the town in about forty-five minutes," said Jocelyn, then she started walking, Gerrard and Ann followed.

Gerrard leaned down to Ann and whispered, "Jocelyn isn't all that horrid, you just caught her on one of her bad days." Ann smiled hesitantly.

"I heard that and, no, this isn't one of my bad days. If it was then you, Gerrard, would be tied to a tree by now and left for the wolves," said Jocelyn, not slowing her pace or looking over her shoulder.


End file.
